Calvin College duo creates cheap, portable supercomputer

Calvin College duo creates cheap, portable supercomputer

Just months after scientists were able to run a quantum computer simulation on an everyday PC, we're now hearing that a Calvin College student / professor tandem have created an inexpensive, portable supercomputer for crunching massive chunks of data on the go (and on the cheap). Dubbed Microwulf, the wee beast is hailed as a "machine that is among the smallest and least expensive supercomputers on the planet," and when not being checked as baggage on a flight, can reportedly process 26.25 gigaflops of data per second. The system itself touts "four dual-core motherboards connected by an eight-port gigabit Ethernet switch," and when initially constructed, it cost just $2,470 to build. Talk about a solid price-to-performance ratio.